Being winter here there is not a whole lot to do here in montana. cabin fever abounds and im not immune.. ................ i dont ice fish any more becouse im primarily catch and release and for some reason ice fishing doenst work for me there............................. my fly fishing time is basicly spent talking to other anglers about past and future ventures, and trying out rods for accuracy, at home and in fly shops .. i cant do much mending or lifting off the water experiments at this time. there are many other duties of a good fly rod that i cant do now.. but im still stuck with accuracy and presentation quality and this is a good time to do it....................... calm days, windy days and with a light on my front porch i can cast in the dark after walking the dog.. i could bore you with statistics that ive gathered that mean little to other casters, so ill just give some observasions for your comments.. id like to know if im getting off track with my analisis of what some interesting data points to............................... im finding that rod lenght (with Cliffs help) is extreemly important to accuracy when dealing with different weight of fly rods.. i really like the z axis 6wt 2 pc, its accuracy and casting weight is phenominal in a 9 foot rod for me.. distance is very good, and accuracy at 65 feet is not a problem for me with rio mainstreem, which is a beginners line with a short head.. this helps beginners to cast short distances, which is probably a weak point on most strong rods.. this gives the rod some all around preformance (speaking of accuracy) in my opinion................ it appears as the rod weight goes down , the rod length must me shortened to some extent depending on rod stiffness, for accuracy.. now my problem child.. the 5 weight.. just doesnt want to do a good job of accuracy in a 9 foot rod................. i had good succes at a fly shop in bozemen thursday with a fli 5 wt 8 foot 6 inch rod.. this had a good enough power to roll over a tight loop and hit the mark quite accuratly.. different days and different conditions defintly vary results..................... but interesting enough the hands down winner is a 5 weight 8 foot grigg with wf wonderline.. its accuracy and casting handeling beat all the rods in the 5 weight group quite badly.. even a 8foot 4 weight silver label would make the (5wt)ds2 9 ft and b2x 9foot and the b2x 8 1/2 foot, and a z axis 9 foot look innaccurate at 35 feet.......................when you add in presentation quality the 4w 8 foot really shines... it appears that the 9 foot 5 weight is a compromise for mending, line pickup, fish fighting, casting accuracy, presentation and other duties.. my instinks are telling me the 5wt 9 foot rod is an all round rod but "MASTER" of few of the fishing needs............................ please set me strait on this.. i admidt im not a great caster, it is abvious that an expert caster could make the 9foot 5wt work for accuracy and presentation, while getting the mending and pickup capabilities.. from what i see out there, trying different rods with other guys, and at fly shops,there are some experts, but not most fishermen are experts.................... i would also like to note that the 5 weight is very difficult to give a delicate presentation.. compared to a 4wt 8 foot silver label orvis, the 5 weights lack a dual quality of precise and delicate presentation (at 35 feet).. i can't for the life of me see almost any fly at 35 feet so why all the fuss of a 9 foot 5 weight?.. also please give your favorite 5wt combos that work well for you?... thanks, dave..

I think another issue that is coming into play is trying to use the same casting stroke for different rods. It sounds like you have already figured out how a 8' 4wt needs to be cast differently from a 9' fast action 6wt, but the 9' 5wts need a different casting stroke as well. The goal is, if you insist on having a 9' 5wt, is to find one that you can adjust your casting stroke to cast accurately. A 5wt will never offer a presentation quite as delicate as a 4wt, but you should be able to achieve the same delicacy with a 5wt as you do with a 6wt.

I agree totally with Cliff on this one with maybe one exception. The Superfine's.
My Far and fine cast as delicate as any four weight, but it is a one of a kind rod.
As I have said in the past, I have a tip flex T3 in a six weight and I recently purchased the 7.5 Mid-Flex Zero in a six weight. The Zero Gravity is an effortless rod to cast and I think I made a good choice in going with the mid-flex. The T3 has it's place when casting big flies, very heavy line, and straight in the wind, but my Zero is a great all around rod. My other six weight is an 8 foot McFarland glass which is more for the dries and easy hook setting on stillwater.
I am also discovering that every rod out there has it's preference to line. I am a WF fan but do have the Triangle Taper and the DT. Both those lines work real well on a couple of rods I own, but my WF works on all.
If only it was simple. LOL
I go with Orvis all the way for obvious reasons, and it all works very well together.